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In this double-exposure portrait, Moung Kyau (1841-1883) poses in traditional Burmese clothes on the left and European on the right. Kyau belonged to the Karen people of Burma (modern Myanmar). Moung Kyau converted to Christianity and came to the United States for education as a Baptist minister. Kyau seems to have lived in in Waterville, Maine, before returning with a large group of missionaries to preach in Burma. In Burma, he composed hymns as part of his missionary work, and he later became a schoolteacher. He died of consumption. A double exposure is a photograph produced by exposing the photographic plate or negative twice, so that two separate impressions from the light are made. In this case, the photographer probably covered half of the light-sensitive plate plate while exposing the other half so that Moung could appear twice in the same image. |